Buckhead Looking to Bounce

Amidst an increase in crime for the city of Atlanta, Buckhead, with much backlash, has revived an old conversation about becoming a city independent of Atlanta. There is currently a 60% increase in homicides since this point in time. The Mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms, has faced much criticism from Buckhead about her handling of the crime wave with some residents saying that “her policies fueled the crime surge and drove officers away from the force.”. 

In January, Mayor Lance Bottoms opposed the idea of a “Buckhead City '' as she said it would not solve the crime problem. Russell-Ofchus, who has spent 10 years as an Atlanta police officer said “Crime is going to be wherever you are. You just can’t say, I’m going to do a new city, and there will be no crime. Yeah, the mall is and will still be in Buckhead, Phipps will still be in Buckhead, Lenox will still be in Buckhead, there will still be crime. To me, that’s not the answer.”

Buckhead is currently 77% white and 11% Black. “Let’s be honest, this is about race,” said Richard Rose, Atlanta’s NAACP President. He also said that the push to split Buckhead is motivated by race more than city services and crime. “They don’t say because you have a Black mayor, but that’s the bottom line, some of them don’t like the Black leadership,” said Rose.

Bill White, the Chairman of the Buckhead City Committee is confident that if you let the people vote then they will decide in favor of ‘Buckhead City’ and claims that the majority would be in favor.

By Henry Winter